Budget Trick

JOLIET — ``Its virtues, including a nifty way to slide a little tax increase into the budget, are more significant.``

Thus does the Tribune congratulate Democrats in the Illinois Senate for their counter-budget proposal to Jim Edgar`s fiscal austerity.

I cannot believe an American newspaper is congratulating government for attempting to hoodwink its constituents. Is your paper`s infatuation with government spending so relentless that we are no longer granted the right to determine our own destiny?